Metal flex hoses are used in various applications, including gas turbine plants where they are used to route compressed air of various temperatures and pressures from point A to point B. Hose routing can be quite complex depending on the location and geometry of each attachment point or termination point. Such complex routing in typical field installations can lead to incorrectly installed hoses that are over-strained and/or over-stressed, leading to premature failure.
There remains a need for a simple but rapid, reliable and quantifiable method for measuring the overall strain condition in a metal flex hose as installed.